Holy “Fig”gen’ Yum!

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Yesterday while I was at the farmers market I was able to snag something delicious: figs! Did I use them for lunch today? Abso-“figgen”-lutely. Did I come up with a bunch of fig puns? Fig yeah! Ok, I promise that the fig puns end here.

I decided to make an open face sandwich inspired by crouqe monsieur. I toasted a slice of Ezekiel bread. Then I spread Dijon mustard on the slice and topped it with sliced figs, prosciutto, and Gruyere cheese. I baked it at 400 for another 4 mins and then I turned on the broiler for the last 4 mins.

Sweet and salty with slightly browned cheese. Oh my goodness do I love me some figs. Fan-figgen-tastic! OK, that’s the last one.

Post figs I went on a run. I planned to run for 8 miles but I got a little bit lost on side streets and ended up going for 8.6 miles. I managed to maintain a pretty good pace though out my run. Every time I got tired I thought about my form. Afterward I had a chocolate milk! Great recovery drink! Its going to be my go to in the future. I stretched it out and then parked it on the couch with an ice pack. So far I have kept up with all the long runs I have planned and I haven’t walked once.

Hope everyone is enjoying a great labor day! I’m clearly going to eat more figs.

Big Foot Lodge

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

After the beach we all headed back to the apartment in Glendale. On the way home we stopped at Fresh and Easy. We grabbed a frozen pizza and some ingredients to kick it up a little bit and make it special.

Once we got home, everyone prepared for a night out and I prepared dinner!

Cooking mayhem, as per the usual.

I added salt. pepper, garlic salt and prosciutto to the pizza:

It turned out pretty good! The little added punch really made it so much better than your typical store bought pizza.

After dinner my friends and I went to the Big Foot Lodge. As you can tell from the name, we were working a wilderness theme.

Yep, there was a mechanical bear peeking his head out of a log. It was amazing. Love love love a theme bar.

There was more taxidermy on the walls and smokey the bear signs. There was a fire place and lots of seating. Overall, it had possibly the perfect bar layout. Lots of space, places to sit and not too large. Plus, I’ve been to three bars this week with taxidermy on the walls. Apparently I have a thing for it.

We had heard about the toasted marshmallow cocktail and we knew that we had to try it. It featured vanilla vodka, butterscotch liqueur, Frangelico, and Bailey’s. The crowning glory is a toasted marshmallow which they torch in front of you.

Finished product:

It was pretty good, although very sweet. The Bailey’s was the main flavor that came through. I could also sense the vanilla. The marshmallow was like wise good but very sweet. It was also pretty affordable, in my opinion, for a specialty cocktails ($10). I couldn’t have more than one of these.

My second drink was St. Germain, gin and lime. It was light and delicious. Having St. Germain is major points in favor of the Big Foot Lodge in my opinion. I like a bar that appears dive-ey but in reality can mix a killer drink.

BFL also gets major points for playing good music. Lots of oldies. I danced and sang along. I was in a happy place.

Friends equal happiness. Hope you had a great long weekend!

Corona del Mar

Posted on September 5, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Greetings from Orange County!

Yesterday I woke up bright and early to spend the day at the beach (and then the bar) with the Glendale girls, Catie, Leanna, and Emily. Catie always talked about the beaches at Corona del Mar so we headed south to the “O.C.”

Look at how blue the water is! Beautiful!

After we arrived Catie and I took a walk down the beach looking for photo ops

Houses!

Other activities at the beach included: giving children throwing sand dirty looks, gossiping, reading, eating, walking, and snacking.

More to come…

Box Lunch

Posted on September 4, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Hello long weekenders!I had class today, and I packed this to go along with it:

This salad was totally epic. Tortellini, goat cheese, prosciutto, pepper, sun dried tomato, and capers over a bed of lettuce. Who is impressed that I busted out the pasta at 8:00 am? I am! This was pretty delish and I got to avoid eating Lu Valle, which is the on campus dining facility near the law school. Its not my favorite but this salad is!

Tomorrow I am off to the beach and drinks. Sunday I have an 8 mile run planned. Have a great weekend everyone!

Thirsty Wednesdays

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Last night Catie and I said goodbye to Kat by bringing her to one of our favorite bars, Thirsty Crow. The first time Catie and I went to “The Crow” we looked at each other and said, “Kat would love this place!” Of course she did.

Last time I got a whiskey cocktail, but this time I ordered a Violet Vapor.

The violet vapor is a combo of creme de violet and champagne. I know we were at a whiskey bar, but what can I say, I’m a champs girl. We had a great time reliving college memories. Lets just say I learned some interesting facts about my trash can last night. I got home late and woke up at 6 am today to go to court. Revelation of the day: I really, really want to be a litigator. Ah, we learn something new everyday. It’s nice to have some direction.

Back to reading and then a run. What is everyone doing for the long weekend?

Roasted Tomato Pasta

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Dinner tonight was simple.

That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t delicious!

No pics of the process. All you have to do is take an heirloom tomato (or any other that you like) and roast with garlic for 30 mins at 425 degrees. While doing that cook spaghetti. I use whole wheat. Drain the pasta and put a dollop of EVO in the pasta pot. When the tomatoes and garlic are done cooking combine them with the pasta and a little S&P over a low heat and combine.

Place in a bowl and grate parm over. Viola!

Delicious and easy. Who says home made sauce has to be hard? Tonight I am off to meet up with Kat before she leaves town again 😦 Off to the bar I go!

Friends and Cupcakes and Cocktails, oh my!

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

There was no blog post yesterday because I was hanging out with Kat! Kat is one of my besties from Simmons. She and I met First Year during a program at Simmons called the “Emerging Leader Program”. We had to do an ice breaker together and she said that makes awesome home made pie crust. Is it any wonder we’re still friends? Then we lived together Sophomore year. She is a left coaster too, but a little further north. I was so excited to see her yesterday.

I grabbed her at the hotel and took her on a driving tour of LA. When we got to Beverly Hills we ditched the car to stretch our Boston legs.

To have a full LA experience we had to stop at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for ice teas!

We walked up, down, and all around Rodeo and then ended up at one of my favorite 90210 hot spots… Sprinkles Cupcakes.

So many choices and so little time.

Then there was a cupcake photo shoot, obviously.

Love Kat’s new cute hair cut!

We picked a good one: carrot cake!

I have to say that I really loved this cupcake! The frosting was not the traditional carrot cake frosting. It was like their other frosting but with coconut-ish flavor! The cake was also very moist and delicious. Overall, it is my favorite Sprinkles cupcake thus far!

We headed back to downtown and had a sushi dinner with Catie. 3/4 of the firm was reunited! Then we went to Seven Grand, where I went for birthday drinks earlier this month, for whiskey drinks.

For some reason my camera was super blurry during this part of the night. Not sure why…

I love the interior of Seven Grand.

Nothing is cozier than taxidermy:

Check out the fresh ingredients… the bartender even gave me a small cup of raspberries. They looked that good.

Having sampled several of their cocktails the last time I was there, I knew exactly what I wanted to order, a Whiskey Sour.Watching them make it was like watching a chemist.

Frothy!

My friends and I had a great time catching up. Its sad that we don’t live across the quad from each other anymore but I look forward to getting together, making new memories, and reliving old ones for years to come.

Love my ladies!

What a difference a year makes

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

This week, after recovering from my birthday stomach flu, I weighed myself and discovered that I have lost 20 lbs this year! Tonight I’ve been on my computer (live tweeting etc.) and I ran into some pictures that were taken around this time last year. I thought I would share them because the difference is kinda epic.

August 2009- Just before law school started, moving into my apartment in LA with Izzy Cat. I had just eaten my way through Boston and had just stopped going to Bikram yoga. I was super flexible but had gained some weight. I don’t remember myself looking this big. I remember being happy, thinking I looked like I probably had for years. Izzy has lost weight since that picture and I will be devoting a page to Izzy’s slimmed down figure at some point.

Me, with my BFF Catie, August 2010 (last week in fact). I have to say that I am literally in awe of my body right now. If you told me one year ago that I would be running 7 miles with ease I would have laughed in your face. Beauty is about happiness and I believe that I have always been beautiful. Look at my smile in both pictures! But now I feel much more fit and confident. I got chills last night when I was running thinking about how strong I am right now.

Anyways, I thought the change between these two pictures taken a year apart were pretty radical and I thought I’d share. Thanks to all the people and the healthy blogger community who have supported me this year! 🙂

The Emmy Awards!

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

If you know me you know that I am a pop culture junkie and that I live for awards shows. I love everything about award shows. I love the dresses, the suspense, the surprise moments and the montages. That’s right, I live for a montage. And when I watch an award show I am watching the WHOLE thing. From the pre show on E! to Ryan and Guiliana on the red carpet for E!, the entire show, snippets of the after show and the Joan Rivers Fashion Police the next day. Can I also just say that I miss Joan Rivers on the carpet? Yes, now that I listen to him on the radio Ryan Seacrest has grown on me a little bit but no one can replace Melissa and Joan. Love them!

This morning I went to Yummy Yoga with Molly (great studio and awesome, sweaty class) and got back just in time for the pre show and red carpet. In LA they start at 2 pm! As the show was starting I made this delicious pizza, of which I only ate 1/2.

On this pizza: whole wheat dough, heirloom tomato, garlic, sun dried tomato, capers, S&P, onion, goat cheese and prosciutto. I’m already excited for lunch tomorrow!

nom.

After a while I decided that it was time for a mid show cocktail.

Your St. Germain fun fact of the day: each bottled is numbered and has the year on it. Here is mine:

Today I made a simple cocktail: a mix of prosecco and st. germain.

Ah the sweet glow of TV. That would be Kyra Segwick picking up her award. The Daily Show just won. Clearly I have to get back to my show and live tweeting! Click on the side bar to follow me if you don’t already!

It’s Cocktail Time!

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Oh my friends, I have had a day.

My beloved iphone was snatched out of my purse while I was perusing heirloom tomatoes at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market. After panicking and running back to the last location I remember having it (JCrew, obviously) I realized that it was really gone. After a trip to the AT&T store I realized that there was no way to get another iphone. There were no iphone 3gs’ in LA. I ended up with a HTC Aria, which is a smart phone that operates on the andriod system. It’s not my iphone. The idea of my baby being violated by someone that isn’t me makes me sad but new year, new hair, new phone I suppose.

I rallied this afternoon with an amazing 7 mile run. I felt incredible and strong. After running and getting treats at Cheesecake Factory with Danielle I decided it was time to make a cocktail with my St. Germain. I decided to make a French Gimlet.

First things first, collect your ingredients.

St. Germain is a made from Elderflower in the French Alps. The blossoms are taken down from the hills on bikes by 50 men. This is the entire collection for the entire year. The flavor is kind of fruity and floral but not at all sweet or sour if that makes any sense. It is used in many cocktails and is exquisite.